Gaza: Europe and the Arabs – Agencies

Media reports have revealed details of a plan to evacuate Gaza residents from the Strip immediately after the war and the destruction caused by Israeli bombing. The reports also revealed who is behind this plan. According to the European news network Euronews in Brussels, a flight carrying approximately 150 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip landed in South Africa last November. This was not an isolated incident. Since last May, at least three other flights have landed carrying Gaza residents who had registered their desire to leave the besieged Strip due to the war, heading to Indonesia and South Africa, according to the Associated Press.

An investigation by the agency revealed that an Israeli group was behind organizing these flights. The group was founded by an activist who strongly supports US President Donald Trump's proposal to resettle Palestinians from Gaza.

South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola previously described these flights as "a clear agenda to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank." Organizing the Flights
The Israeli group Ad Kan, founded by former soldiers and intelligence officers, operated through a company called Al-Majd to minimize any direct links with Israel and organize the flights independently.

The investigation was based on a trove of documents, including contracts, passenger lists, text messages, financial statements, and interviews with dozens of Israelis and Palestinians who participated in the flights.

Many passengers, who fled after more than two years of devastating war, confirmed they did not know who was behind the flights, but considered it irrelevant as long as they were able to leave the Gaza Strip.

One Palestinian who arrived in South Africa in November, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “There was famine, and we had no options. My children were nearly dying. Death and destruction were everywhere, all day long, for two years, and no one came to our rescue.”

A Political Agenda?

Ad Kan claims the flights are “humanitarian” and were organized through Al-Majd, which describes itself as aiming to support the lives of Palestinians. But the history of the group and its founder, Gilad Ach, suggests they have political aims. For years, they have worked to infiltrate Palestinian groups and expose activities they deem "anti-Israel or anti-Semitic."

Ach, a reservist and settler in the West Bank, supported Trump's proposal to relocate some two million Palestinians from Gaza. He published a report outlining how to implement what he called a "voluntary exodus," arguing that emptying the Gaza Strip of its inhabitants would be in Israel's best interest.

Although Trump backed down from his plan after international condemnation, far-right Israeli groups, including members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, still support the idea of ​​removing Gaza's residents, hoping to resettle the area in the future.

Earlier, Israel established a voluntary emigration office, run by the Ministry of Defense.

How the trips work: The Associated Press interviewed six Palestinians who left Gaza on these trips. Some had heard about Al-Majd Company in early 2025, while others had been introduced to it by friends. With much of Gaza destroyed, some Palestinians didn't know their destination; all they cared about was leaving.

Before the flight landed in Johannesburg in November, a flight in May carried about 60 Palestinians from Israel through Hungary to Indonesia and beyond, while an October flight took about 170 people from Israel to South Africa via Kenya.

The passengers paid up to $2,000 each via bank transfers and cryptocurrency and received notifications of the location and time but no specific destination. They were bused from Gaza to Israel, where they were searched and some of their belongings were taken onto the plane.

American-Israeli businessman Moti Kahana had signed a contract to organize one of the flights, but it ended after the flight was rerouted to South Africa. It's unclear whether Ad Kan works directly with the Israeli government, but Palestinians need Israeli permission to leave Gaza. Mu'ayyad Sidam, who oversees humanitarian projects in Gaza, confirmed that travel arrangements must be made with Israeli authorities. “Let them leave”

After the outbreak of war in 2023, Gilad Ach founded a group called “The Israeli Reserve Generation for Victory.”

He said its message included “the emigration of our enemies,” and it posted advertisements on buses in Israel featuring a picture of Trump and Hebrew words that read: “Victory = Voluntary Emigration… This bus could be full of Gazans. Listen to Trump, let them leave!”

In a later interview with the Jewish News Syndicate, Ach said: “Victory in Gaza means taking over a piece of land and opening the borders to allow people to leave… They have lost their land and their people, and that is a clear victory.”

According to the agency, the project has faced criticism questioning the “voluntary” nature of emigration from Gaza, especially given that large areas of the Strip have become uninhabitable.

Critics emphasize the imperative of ensuring the right of return, warning of Israeli policies that have placed ongoing obstacles in the way of Palestinians returning to their homes. In the same vein, and according to the UN Daily News, a report issued by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the Israeli government has accelerated illegal settlement expansion and annexed large parts of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, resulting in the forced displacement of more than 36,000 Palestinians amidst escalating violence by Israeli security forces and settlers.

The report states that “settler violence has continued in a strategically coordinated manner and largely with impunity, with Israeli authorities playing a central role in directing, participating in, or enabling this behavior,” making it difficult to distinguish between state violence and settler violence.  

He adds that chronic and widespread impunity "facilitates and encourages violence and harassment against Palestinians."

The report covers a period of up to 12 months, ending on October 31, 2025, and documents 1,732 incidents of settler violence resulting in injuries or property damage, compared to 1,400 incidents during the previous reporting period. These incidents include ongoing harassment, intimidation, and the destruction of homes and agricultural land.

“Soldier Settlers”

Last October, coinciding with the olive harvest season, the report documented 42 settler attacks that injured 131 Palestinians, including 14 women and one child—the highest number recorded in a single month since 2006. The daily attacks by armed settlers, soldiers, and “soldier settlers”—many of whom are armed, equipped, and trained by official authorities—along with the closure of more land to Palestinian farmers and landowners, made the 2025 season the worst in decades.

In some cases, the report found that gender-based violence became the final trigger for displacement. Other attacks led to the separation of families, with women and children forced to leave while male family members remained to try to hold onto their land and property.

Displacement in the West Bank and Gaza

The report stated: “The displacement in the occupied West Bank, coinciding with the mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli military, appears to indicate a coordinated Israeli policy of mass forcible transfer throughout the occupied territory, aimed at permanent displacement, raising concerns of ethnic cleansing.”

The UN Human Rights Office report also highlighted the increased risk of displacement faced by thousands of Palestinians from Bedouin communities northeast of East Jerusalem due to the advancement of settlement expansion plans.

It added that the unlawful transfer of protected persons constitutes a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The report further noted that such acts may entail individual criminal responsibility for those responsible and, in certain circumstances, may amount to a crime against humanity. The report concludes that the transfer of powers from the Israeli military to civilian authorities, the confiscation of Palestinian land for settlement expansion, and other discriminatory policies and practices "amount to an institutionalized system of discrimination, oppression, and systematic violence by Israel against Palestinians, in violation of the prohibition of apartheid and racial segregation under international law."

Call for an immediate halt to settlement construction and expansion

The report notes that Israeli authorities have advanced or approved the construction of 36,973 housing units in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and approximately 27,200 in the rest of the West Bank. A record 84 new settlement outposts were also established during the reporting period.

The report also documents the expansion of settlement activity within Area B of the occupied West Bank, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority according to the Oslo Accords.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called on Israel to immediately and completely cease all settlement construction and expansion, dismantle existing settlements, evacuate all settlers, and end its occupation of Palestinian territory. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that Israel must enable the return of displaced Palestinians and halt all practices of land confiscation, forced evictions and house demolitions.